Strategic Plan Process

WES has begun the strategic planning process for its next Strategic Plan.In the creation of this plan, it is important for us to step back and review our accomplishments, evaluate the areas that need fortifying, and identify the exciting opportunities that will best serve our students and community in the future. This process begins with surveys and focus groups designed to capture reflections and self-evaluations and ends with a blueprint for the school’s growth and development over the next five years.

Our last strategic plan, approved in November of 2012, identified the following strategic goals:

Fortify our Core Program

Strengthen Marketing, Positioning, and Visibility

Enhance Our Physical Plant

Sustain Washington Episcopal School

This plan guided WES’s incredible progress for the past five years. From building the Turf Field and Outdoor Sports Court to updating our language arts program with the balanced literacy approach, improving our STEM curriculum, adding a new instructional technology facilitator position, increasing the school’s visibility in the Bethesda community, enhancing admissions processes and strategies, fortifying our financial position, and so much more, we have much to be proud of. Our strategic planning work will build on this foundation while remaining true to our mission, philosophy, and core values.

To guide us, we have put together an experienced Strategic Planning Committee that represents a wide range of backgrounds, expertise, and tenures at WES. We have also engaged a consultant who has deep knowledge of independent schools and the strategic planning process. The Strategic Planning Committee who will guide this process include the following people:

Consultant: Brooke Carroll, Ph.D.

But the Strategic Planning Committee cannot effectively act alone─the WES community must serve a critical role in this process. Through surveys, focus groups, and other activities, we will continuously seek input from you. We will rely on you to remind us of the core assets that make WES so special and the areas that offer the most potential for our students’ growth and development. We will also research best practices and collaborate with thought leaders in the education sector.

As our school’s mission states, “We suspect that our students will face challenges we only dream of in a world we barely glimpse.” As technology, communications, science, art, math, and more evolve each day, your passion and commitment are essential for us to develop what is needed—a visionary plan. We will need a range of voices that will weave important concepts of creativity and practicality, sustainability and foresight, and hope and reflection throughout this document. We are excited to embark on this process with you. Our goal is to complete the plan in the Spring of 2018 and shortly thereafter launch the efforts identified in it.

Throughout the process the Strategic Planning Committee will send status reports to the WES community and post those communications on this section of the website. Our goal is to be as inclusive and transparent as possible in this process. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to email the Strategic Planning Committee at strategic_planning@w-e-s.org.